NSF Award
0333537
This project proposes to establish a dark fiber high-performance connection from the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) to the MidAtlantic Crossroads GigaPoP (MAX) in College Park, MD and then to the Abilene network. The fiber will be leased through FiberGate, Inc. and will provide both high performance and redundancy. Additionally, the Abilene/Internet2 connection will be shared with three affiliate organizations located within a one-kilometer radius of TIGR. These include the Joint Technology Center, The Center for the Advancement of Genomics and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives. Positive aspects of this proposal include<br/><br/>TIGR is a major contributor of scientific data on the microbial organisms that it sequences. <br/>TIGR's work in sequencing microbial genomes has aided homeland defense initiatives and supported investigations into bio-terrorist activities. TIGR has sequenced the anthrax bacterium and has been cataloging genetic differences between strains. This connection will further enable this work.<br/>A high-performance connection will enable an increased exchange of scientific data and enable potential new bioinformatics applications. TIGR has built numerous research applications that are used by scientist around the world to conduct genomics research. <br/>The connection will support several major initiatives for genomics-based analysis involving collaborators across the United States:<br/>1. an effort to build a comprehensive public database of genetic variation in the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax; <br/>2. the NSF Tree of Life project, and multi-institutional effort to sequence and study the genomes of species representing many divergent branches of the evolutionary tree;<br/>3. a large-scale collaboration between TIGR and five other universities and laboratories to link genes to function on a genomics scale in order to facilitate investigations in physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying heart, lung, blood, and sleep function and disease; and <br/>4. ongoing and growing effort to share all genomics data with the scientific community, through web-based databases and through submissions to other public archives.
